Smart grid powers up privacy worries

Smart grid powers up privacy worries - David Perera - POLITICO
The next Big Data threat to our privacy may come from the electricity we consume in our homes.
“Smart” online power meters are tracking energy use — and that data may soon be worth more than the electricity they distribute.
The Department of Energy is publishing in January the final draft of a voluntary code of conduct governing data privacy for smart meters, 38 million of which have already been installed nationwide. The meters gather information about household electricity consumption and transmit it wirelessly at regular intervals to the supplier.
It’s a key element in the push for the so-called smart grid, a more efficient way to distribute the nation’s electricity.
But, despite the voluntary code, critics fear consumers will still be cajoled or conned into giving up their data, not just to power companies but to third-party data aggregators.
Too much money is at stake, they say.
And the huge profits to be made could upend the business model of energy utilities.
“I think the data is going to be worth a lot more than the commodity that’s being consumed to generate the data,” said Miles Keogh, director of grants and research at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
All sorts of inferences about people’s private lives are potentially available from detailed energy consumption data. 
The number of people inside a house. 
Daily routines. 
Degree of religious observance. 
Household appliance usage. 
Even, according to two German hackers, what’s on the television, given a fast enough meter refresh rate.
“Very sensitive information can be revealed about homes, and homes are the most sacred privacy environment,” said Nancy King, an Oregon State University business law and ethics academic who’s studying smart meter deployments.
Access and control of that energy usage data will be key, she added.
“Most consumers are just unaware about how their data feeds into the Big Data machine and are powerless to do much about it.”

Michigan must kill prevailing wage at 50

Michigan must kill prevailing wage at 50 - Politics Blog - The Detroit News:
"2015 is a landmark year for prevailing wage in Michigan.
The law was signed in 1965, meaning 50 years of union-driven, artificially hiked construction costs on state-funded projects.
That’s a half-century.
But thanks to the Michigan Supreme Court, 2015 could also see the beginning of the end of these wretched policies, at least at local levels.
...And it is long overdue.
For five decades (and as written here nearly two years ago), workers on state-funded construction projects such as school buildings are paid wages and benefits “that are determined by unions, not by the free market rate – no matter what the lowest bid is for the job.”
So the 18 percent of construction workers in the state of Michigan who are unionized get to set the wages for 100 percent of construction workers.
Those wages are about 60 percent higher than what the market would determine. 
And before even starting the chorus of “but you should thank us for your higher pay,” know that the average free market wage for these jobs is already $23 an hour.
If the prevailing wage was needed before, it isn’t now.
According to a 2013 report by the Anderson Economic Group, these artificially inflated wages significantly raise the costs to build Michigan schools and universities, with an extra $224 million each year out of the pockets of  Michigan taxpayers.

He Wrote a Heartfelt Letter Asking to Go Hunting, and Despite One Big Mistake, a South Carolina Sheriff Over 500 Miles Away Answered the Call | Video | TheBlaze.com

He Wrote a Heartfelt Letter Asking to Go Hunting, and Despite One Big Mistake, a South Carolina Sheriff Over 500 Miles Away Answered the Call | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"Decked out in brand-new hunting clothes and toting a fishing pole and a pair of antlers, 9-year-old Alex Collins was all smiles as he walked through Philadelphia International Airport on the last night of 2014.

He was fresh off a whirlwind hunting trip in South Carolina that garnered national attention — and more than a few misty eyes — because of the series of crazy circumstances that made it all happen."

‘Racist’ NYPD Police Are Actually Pretty Good at Their Jobs: NYC Crime Rate Falls to Record Low

‘Racist’ NYPD Police Are Actually Pretty Good at Their Jobs: NYC Crime Rate Falls to Record Low:

"According to a recent report, however, New York’s finest are doing a pretty darn good job providing for a safer Big Apple and creating a safer environment for these protests to occur.

The Daily Mail reports:

The number of murders in New York City last year dropped to its lowest point in recorded history.
The 328 slayings recorded in the city’s five boroughs in 2014 is the lowest figure the NYPD has seen since the department began collecting such data consistently in 1963, the New York Times reports.
The figure is only a slight drop from the 335 murders recorded the year before — but is a huge milestone compared to some of the city’s most dangerous years."

‘They Had a List of Full Names of Christians in the Building’: Masked Gunmen Storm Living Complex and Kidnap 13 Christians | TheBlaze.com

‘They Had a List of Full Names of Christians in the Building’: Masked Gunmen Storm Living Complex and Kidnap 13 Christians | TheBlaze.com:

“They were 15 armed and masked men who came in four vehicles. They had a list of full names of Christians in the building. While checking IDs, Muslims were left aside while Christians were grabbed,” Aziz said, adding that he survived simply because he didn’t open his door.

“I heard my friends screaming but they were quickly shushed at gunpoint. After that, we heard nothing,” said Aziz who said he has three relatives among the hostages."

Our Most Popular Science Image Galleries of 2014

Our Most Popular Science Image Galleries of 2014 | WIRED

New Year Brings New Obamacare Fines

New Year Brings New Obamacare Fines:

"Obamacare’s individual mandate requires citizens to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty. The mandate took effect in 2014 but leveled a comparatively modest fine: either a $95 per person fee or a 1 percent income tax penalty—whichever is higher.

This year, fines increase to $325 or 2 percent of taxable income. And for the first time, citizens will report their health insurance status directly to the IRS."

Why New Yorkers are rushing for the exits

Why New Yorkers are rushing for the exits | New York Post:
"The US Census Bureau announced last week that New York slipped to fourth place in population among the 50 states.
Though babies are still born here every day, and immigrants still flock in, overall population growth lags because New Yorkers are abandoning the state.
Don’t blame the weather.
Blustery Montana and North Dakota aren’t having this problem. New Yorkers are escaping high taxes and dismal job growth.
Other high-tax states like Illinois and New Jersey, which has the country’s second-highest tax burden, are also hemorrhaging residents. 
Families are uprooting and moving to places with lower taxes, more growth and fossil-fuel-friendly policies."

Palestinians File Papers to Join Int’l Criminal Court, Open Door to Having Israel Charged With War Crimes | TheBlaze.com

Palestinians File Papers to Join Int’l Criminal Court, Open Door to Having Israel Charged With War Crimes | TheBlaze.com:

 "The Palestinians could seek to have Israeli military or political figures prosecuted for alleged crimes involving settlement construction on occupied lands or actions by the military that cause heavy civilian casualties.

Mansour said the Palestinians delivered a letter Thursday night to the registrar of the ICC in The Hague requesting that the court consider alleged crimes committed during the Gaza war “and reserving our right for other retroactive crimes committed by Israel.” He said he would be meeting with an official from the registrar’s office in New York later Friday to discuss the issue."

Liberal Idiot caught on Tape

Liberal Idiot caught on Tape

Almost ALL democrats. Every RINO----House Roll Call 671 - Michigan Votes

House Roll Call 671 - Michigan Votes
2014 House Bill 5230: Expand government's power to seize and sell property deemed a "nuisance" (House Roll Call 671)

   

Passed 72 to 34 in the House on December 11, 2014.
View All of House Bill 5230: History, Amendments & Comments 

The vote was 72 in favor, 34 against, and 4 not voting.
(House Roll Call 671)

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Abed (D)	Banks (D)	Brinks (D)	Brown (D)	Brunner (D)
Cavanagh (D)	clemente (D)	Cochran (D)	Darany (D)	Dianda (D)
Dillon (D)	Driskell (D)	Durhal (D)	Faris (D)	Geiss (D)
Greimel (D)	Haugh (D)	Hobbs (D)	Hovey-Wright (D)	Kandrevas (D)
Kivela (D)	Knezek (D)	Lamonte (D)	Lane (D)	LaVoy (D)
McCann (D)	Oakes (D)	Rutledge (D)	Segal (D)	Singh (D)
Slavens (D)	Smiley (D)	Stallworth (D)	Stanley (D)	Switalski (D)
Townsend (D)	Yanez (D)	Zemke (D)

HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Bolger (R)	Callton (R)	Crawford (R)	Daley (R)	Denby (R)
Glardon (R)	Graves (R)	Haines (R)	Heise (R)	Jacobsen (R)
Jenkins (R)	Kesto (R)	Kowall (R)	Lauwers (R)	Lori (R)
Lyons (R)	McBroom (R)	McCready (R)	Muxlow (R)	Nesbitt (R)
O'Brien (R)	Outman (R)	Pagel (R)	Poleski (R)	Price (R)
Pscholka (R)	Rogers (R)	Schmidt (R)	Shirkey (R)	Stamas (R)
VerHeulen (R)	Victory (R)	Yonker (R)	Zorn (R)

---

AGAINST

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Barnett (D)	Irwin (D)	Kosowski (D)	Lipton (D)	Nathan (D)
Roberts (D)	Robinson (D)	Santana (D)	Schor (D)	Talabi (D)
Tlaib (D)

HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Bumstead (R)	Cotter (R)	Farrington (R)	Forlini (R)	Franz (R)
Genetski (R)	Goike (R)	Haveman (R)	Hooker (R)	Howrylak (R)
Johnson (R)	Kelly (R)	Kurtz (R)	LaFontaine (R)	Leonard (R)
Lund (R)	MacGregor (R)	MacMaster (R)	McMillin (R)	Pettalia (R)
Potvin (R)	Rendon (R)	Somerville (R)

15 Must-See Charts From 2014

15 Must-See Charts From 2014

Atheists Demand Apology From University Chancellor For Sharing This Video With Staff and Students | TheBlaze.com

Atheists Demand Apology From University Chancellor For Sharing This Video With Staff and Students | TheBlaze.com:

"The short clip featured comments from Clay Christensen, a noted professor at Harvard Business School, who discussed his views on religion and morality in American society.

Christensen, a Mormon, said that he had spoken to a Marxist economist from China some time ago who shared with Christensen what he was most surprised to learn about American democracy after spending some time in the United States.

“I asked him if he had learned anything that was surprising or unexpected and without any hesitation he said, ‘Yeah, I had no idea how critical religion is to the functioning of democracy,” Christensen said in the video."

TaxProf Blog: The IRS Scandal, Day 603

TaxProf Blog: The IRS Scandal, Day 603:
"Washington Post, The Year in Review 2014, by Dave Barry:
 [I]t was a miserable 12 months.
In case you have forgotten why, let’s take one last look back, starting with …

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, who oversaw the rollout of Obamacare, resigns from the Cabinet to take a position overseeing e-mail storage for the Internal Revenue Service. ...
In Washington scandal news, the Internal Revenue Service, responding to a subpoena, tells congressional investigators that it cannot produce 28 months of Lois Lerner’s e-mails because the hard drive they were stored on failed, and the hard drive was thrown away, and the backup tapes were erased, and no printed copies were saved — contrary to the IRS’s own record-keeping policy, which was eaten by the IRS’s dog.
“It was just one crazy thing after another,” states the IRS, “and it got us to thinking:
All these years we’ve been subjecting taxpayers to everything short of rectal probes if they can’t produce EVERY SINGLE DOCUMENT WE WANT, and here we lose YEARS’ worth of official records!
So from now on, if taxpayers tell us they lost something, or just plain forgot to make a tax payment, we’ll be like, ‘Hey, whatever! Stuff happens!’
Because who are we to judge?”
But all kidding aside, you can bet that before this thing is over there will be a strongly worded report."

10 Most Important Numbers In The World

History for January 3

History for January 3 - On-This-Day.com
Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 B.C., J.R.R. Tolkien 1892 


Victor Borge 1909, Bobby Hull (NHL) 1939, Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield) 1945 


Mel Gibson 1956, Michael Schumacher 1969, Danica McKellar 1975 


1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther. 


1777 - The Battle of Princeton took place in the War of Independence, in which George Washington defeated the British forces, led by Cornwallis. 


1823 - Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas. 


1833 - Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. About 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back after a 74-day war. 


1871 - Henry W. Bradley patented oleomargarine. 


1888 - The drinking straw was patented by Marvin C. Stone. 


1951 - NBC-TV debuted "Dragnet." 



1959 - In the U.S., Alaska became the 49th state. 


1961 - The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. 


1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro. 


1988 - Margaret Thatcher became the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century. 

Communist NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Reappoints Judge Who Let Loose Thugs Who Threatened NYPD Cops

Communist NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Reappoints Judge Who Let Loose Thugs Who Threatened NYPD Cops:

"Communist Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio (formerly Warren Wilhelm, Jr.) made another unfathomable action which speaks even louder than his anti-cop words on Wednesday, reappointing a progressive Brooklyn judge who freed two men who had threatened to murder NYPD cops, two days prior to the racial execution of two of New York’s finest on December 20."

Will This New California Law Cause National Egg Prices to Unnecessarily Skyrocket?

Will This New California Law Cause National Egg Prices to Unnecessarily Skyrocket?:

"A new law, which was pushed through by radical left-wing progressive radical animal activists, requires new standards for farmers who raise egg-laying hens, will raise costs to farmers, which will probably result in higher egg prices at the grocery store.

The new California law demands that farmers raise chickens in larger enclosures that provide enough room for them to stretch, turn around and flap their wings."

Nudge to Shove; Obamacare Fines to Skyrocket; Obama IRS to Enforce

Nudge to Shove; Obamacare Fines to Skyrocket; Obama IRS to Enforce:

"Additionally, we learned this week that a whopping 87% of new Obamacare enrollees are getting their premiums subsidized (paid for) on the backs of other taxpayers.

For 2015, the fines will skyrocket to 2% or $325, whichever is higher, and for 2016, even further massive increases are in store. For 2016, according to government figures, the average fine will be approximately $1,100.

The “nudge” has just become a “shove.”

Sooo, the unions and their political crook allies walked away with $9.3 BILLION of your money?!!!------Ally sale leaves U.S. taxpayers with $9.3 billion loss on auto rescues

Ally was called GMAC.
I guess GM didn't want you to know the same scam is still around with a different name.
Ally sale leaves U.S. taxpayers with $9.3 billion loss on auto rescues | Crain's Detroit Business:
U.S. taxpayers lost $9.3 billion on the government’s bailout of auto companies following the Treasury Department’s sale of its remaining stake in Ally Financial Inc.
The Treasury took in $70.4 billion from the rescue of companies including General Motors Co., Chrysler Group and Detroit-based auto lender Ally after spending $79.7 billion of taxpayer funds, according to department data released Monday.

But the banks paid back EVERY penny AND MORE!
......Overall, the government received $441.7 billion in repayments and other income from the Troubled Asset Relief Program bailouts that also included financial firms Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and American International Group Inc.
That amount was $15.1 billion more than the $426.6 billion that was spent, according to the Treasury data."

This cop beating, armed robber gets off???!!!!-----Teen sentenced as adult, other gets sealed record in Saginaw store robbery where clerk fought back

Teen sentenced as adult, other gets sealed record in Saginaw store robbery where clerk fought back | MLive.com:
SAGINAW, MI — One of the two teen males who attempted to rob a West Side Saginaw convenience store with a pellet gun will have his record sealed.
Saginaw County Circuit Judge James T. Borchard on Dec. 18 sentenced Gabriel Facundo and DeJuan Q. Dowdy for unarmed robbery and conspiring to commit that crime early June 19 incident at Bill's Party Store.
Borchard sentenced Facundo, 18, under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which sealed his record. If Facundo successfully completes his probation, his charges will be dropped.
The terms of Facundo's incarceration are not publicly available.
Borchard chose to sentence Dowdy, who turned 17 after the incident, as an adult rather than as a juvenile.
He sentenced Dowdy to one year in jail, which credit for 164 days, and three years probation.
Dowdy and Facundo in September pleaded guilty to the robbery and conspiracy charges, and in exchange, prosecutors dropped initial charges of armed robbery and conspiring to commit that crime. The latter two charges carry maximum penalties of life in prison with the possibility of parole, while the former two chargers carry 15-year maximum penalties.
Facundo also pleaded to resisting and obstructing a police officer causing injury and resisting and obstructing a police officer.

Wendy Davis Brags About Standing by her Core Beliefs Right After She Admits to Lying About Them

Wendy Davis Brags About Standing by her Core Beliefs Right After She Admits to Lying About Them:
 "One thing we’ve learned about Wendy ‘Abortion Barbie’ Davis is that truth is of no consequence to her. After all, she started off her campaign lying about her background and it was all downhill from there."